Tintin and the Family Crest
by DisneyPrincess55
Summary: In the sequel to Tintin and the Prophecy Stone, Tintin and his now-girlfriend Nollie come face-to-face with a gruesome murder and a mystery regarding Nollie's family-not to mention the murderer wants Nollie dead as well...
1. Murder on Pine Lane

One Murder on Pine Lane

"Nollie, would you care to bring a plate of cookies to your dear aunt Martha?" Emilie asked. We were gathered in the kitchen, eating a fresh batch of chocolate chip cookies Emilie had just made.

"I—I guess I could," I murmured nervously. I hadn't been to see Aunt Martha since August—it was December now. I wondered if she'd still be angry with me for going to live with Tintin.

"I'll go, too, if you don't mind." I turned to Tintin, who had chocolate all over his face, and smiled.

"You should clean up, first." I teased, and he raised his eyebrow.

"Same goes for you, dear," we laughed at this, going up to our rooms to clean up.

When I came downstairs, Emilie handed me the plate of cookies wrapped in a clean dishcloth. She helped me into my coat and boots and gloves. After she had done the same to Tintin, save for the plate of cookies, we left.

The flakes of snow were falling softly to the ground. We walked in silence, listening to our boots crunch in the snow and Snowy pant in time with our steps. I could see the snow-covered street marker ahead, standing up beside a young maple tree, reading Pine Lane. We were close.

"125, 127, 129, 131, 133—" I whispered to myself, "Here!" We stopped in front of house number 135.

"Do you want to go in by yourself?" He asked, and I nodded.

"I'll be out in a few minutes." I kissed him gently before bending down to get the spare key beneath the potted plant on the doorstep, taking it, and unlocking the door.

I walked inside the familiar house, shivering as a draft went by. "Aunt Martha?" I called, going into the empty parlor, "Aunt Martha, it's me, Nollie!" I then went into the kitchen, half expecting her to be yelling at the maid, Andrea, but instead found nobody. "Hello?" My last resort was her bedroom. I opened the door, not knowing what I would find inside. "Aunt Martha?" I called gently, opening the door wider. I stepped in and screamed, dropping the cookies.

Tintin was by my side in an instant, holding me against his chest. The room was dim; the lights had been shattered against the walls. Aunt Martha lay on her bed, a knife in her chest, blood still dripping from the wound. Pillows and blankets and furniture were strewn around the room carelessly, like she had put up a fight. Right above her bed, on the wall, was something written in blood.

I will find the girl. And the crest.

I was shaking and crying so hard I could hardly see, let alone stand. "Shh, shh, it's okay," Tintin murmured, looking around the room cautiously.

A few minutes later I sat on a sofa in the parlor while Tintin called the police. "Hello? Hello. Yes, it _is_ an emergency; someone's been murdered. It's too late for her, but—uh, Pine Lane. House number? I think… 135. Yes. All right. Thank you, please hurry!" He hung up and went to go sit next to me on the sofa. I hugged him, frightened. We sat there in silence until two policemen walked in the door and he stood. "Officers," he said, shaking their hands, "Thank you for coming so quickly."

"Is that the girl that was murdered?" One asked, pointing to me.

"What? No, that's my girlfriend, Nollie. Her _aunt _was murdered. Right this way." Tintin led the two men down the hall, to Aunt Martha's room, and I couldn't help but follow. Tintin put his arm around my shoulders protectively as he explained to the two officers what had happened. One of the officers went to Martha at one point during the explanation and inspected the knife.

"You might want to have her turn away," he told Tintin, and I turned my face into his shoulder as the man pulled the knife from Martha's chest. "Do any of you know what this 'family crest' thing is? I mean, we know who the girl is—obviously it's her." I hesitated, remembering a time I overheard my father and mother talking about a family crest.

"When I was younger, I heard my parents talking about my father's family crest. Apparently it was worth some money…"

"That's it, then!" Tintin said, "He's after the crest."

"If you don't mind us asking, could you two leave so we can do a thorough investigation of the entire house? We'll come by later and tell you what we found."

"116 Oak Drive," Tintin told them, "That's where we live." Before we left, Tintin grabbed a blanket off the sofa and put it around my shoulders.

When we got home, I went up to my room, sniffing. Martha had been my only family, and now she was dead. Where was I to go now, if something ever happened to Tintin? Would I have to go all the way back to Egypt and live with Rawnie? I was so lost in thought I hardly noticed Tintin standing in the doorway, two mugs in his hands. When I looked over at him he walked towards me, handing me one of the mugs and sitting down beside me on my bed.

"Hot chocolate," he murmured, "Emilie says it makes everything better."

"Thanks," I murmured, taking a sip. _Emilie was right. It did make everything better. Well, some of it. It couldn't bring my parents or Aunt Martha back. _

"What happened that night—to your parents?" I was shocked he was asking such an odd question at this horrible time.  
"I don't remember that well… Just that I came home from the grocery to find policemen outside of my house, and when I walked inside, they wouldn't let me see them; they wouldn't let me see anything. One policeman took me outside of the house and told me, 'sweetheart, your parents are dead,' and I just…" I closed my eyes, tears rolling down my cheeks. He was silent for a minute, as I tried to get myself back together.

"And after that?"

"I went to the orphanage, and the Aunt Martha came and took me home and—"

"The house. Where's the house?"

"What about the house?"

"Where is it? Maybe there's something inside…"

"It's probably been sold by now, Tintin."

"But everything's worth a shot." I was going to say something when Emilie called for us from the stairs.

"Mister Tintin! Miss Nollie! Two policemen are here for you!" She was talking to them in the entryway of the house when we came down the stairs, saying something about how we were perfectly good kids and probably didn't do anything wrong.

"I can take it from here, Emilie," Tintin said, relieving her back to the kitchen. "Gentlemen, did you find anything more?"

"We found two other bodies in the cellar of the house, a man and a woman." I gasped and put my hands to my mouth in shock. _Andrea and Josef_. "I believe she knows who they are," he pointed at me.

"Andrea and Josef…The maid and the butler…Oh, God…" I stumbled, and Tintin caught me, walking me into the parlor and easing me into a chair.

"What are their full names?"

"I don't know. Aunt Martha only used their first names."

"Well, there's most likely a record in the house, right?" Tintin asked, and the other policeman nodded.

"I must ask," I murmured, "Was there a body of a cat anywhere in the house?"

"Afraid not, miss, though we did find where the murderer entered and escaped," one officer said, "Why?"

"My aunt had a cat—Perkins. I was just wondering." For some reason, I was glad Perkins was still alive, though I never liked that fat cat.

"So how did the assassin enter and escape the house?" Tintin asked. It gave me chills, the word assassin, especially used when talking about my aunt's killer.

"Through a window. It's a unique window; too, he came through the back of the house, in the hallway. There's only been one other time we've seen a killer get in this way, in a murder about three years ago—" I cut the officer off, hardly breathing.

"In my _parent's_ murder," I gasped, standing, "It's the same guy…" The world started spinning then, and I crumpled to the floor. Right before I completely blacked out I heard Tintin calling my name and shaking me.

I awoke in my bed, the back of my head aching from hitting it on the floor. I saw Tintin sitting on my window-seat, reading a book. He heard me groan and looked up, snapping the book shut and going to my side.

"Feeling better after your unexpected nap?" He chuckled, and I grimaced. "Sorry, dear. You okay?" He helped me sit up against my pillows, doing the same for himself.

"Not really. My head's still sort of spinning and gosh it hurts."

"It's normal, don't worry. For it to hurt, that is. You really ought to start breathing better."

"Oh, stop it," I laughed.

"I was thinking once you've recovered we could go to your old house."

"What happened to the policemen?"

"They left not too long after you passed out. Went back to the house to see if there was anything else that told them who did it."

"How long was I out?"

"About twenty-five minutes. Not too long, certainly not long enough to call an ambulance to see if you were in a coma."

"I'm sorry if I scared you."

"You did, for a few minutes, before one of the officers said you had just fainted."

"It just scared me so much to know the same guy that killed my parents killed my aunt and is looking for me, too."

"Understood."

Two days later, I was sitting in the parlor, a cup of tea in one hand and a book in the other, reading. Tintin had gone out, leaving Emilie alone with me.

"How are you, Miss Nollie?" Emilie asked, ambling into the parlor with a feather duster.

"Fine, thank you, Emilie."

"And that book?"

"It's good."

"Same one you were reading before the murder?"

"Oh, no, Emilie, I finished that one long ago."

"Is that so? Aye, girl, you're a fast reader! I may have to put another order in for some more books!" I blushed. "Ever since you moved in here I've made four whole orders for books! Four!" She chuckled.

"Sorry, Emilie—I don't mean to be a bother…"

"Oh, you're not a bother at all, dearie. It's rather nice having another girl in the house, 'specially when you help with the dishes!" She left the room. Emilie was a rather nice woman, but she could be nosy and sarcastic and suspicious sometimes, and Tintin was always rather edgy around her. But if I had to choose between Emilie and Aunt Martha's late maid Andrea, I'd have chosen Emilie in a flash. I turned back to my book, _War and Peace_. I gazed at the front cover and remembered sitting on the double-decker bus a few weeks ago, before the murder, with Tintin, telling him how excited I was to read it. After I had finished talking, I heard a few girls behind us whispering how crazy I must be, reading a book like that.

I was snapped out of my flashback when the front door slammed. "Nollie!" Tintin called before he noticed me in the chair by the window, "Ah, there you are. I got you something." I sat up, looking at him, dazed.

"Something for me? But how can we afford it?"

"Let's just say it's your early Christmas present." He sat down on the small ottoman in front of me and pulled a tiny box wrapped in fine paper decorated in Christmas trees from his overcoat pocket. I sat up even more and looked from the box to Tintin, astonished.

"You don't mean—I… Tintin, I'm only sixteen—" I sputtered, but he just laughed and shook his head.

"Be patient, Noll." He opened the box slowly and pulled out a small ring with a heart made from diamonds on it and slipped it onto my finger.

"Oh, it's beautiful," I gushed.

"It's a promise ring," he explained, "As long as you have it, I will always be with you." He kissed me gently before getting up and going upstairs. I slumped back in my chair, dumbfounded. _As long as you have it, I will always be with you?_ What did that mean? Was he leaving me? Or was he sending _me_ away?

"Well that was sweet," Emilie said from the kitchen door. I nodded, rubbing my index finger over the ring. I got up at once and ran upstairs, throwing open Tintin's office door.

"What does it mean?" I asked, trying not to sound harsh. He looked at me, confused.

"What does _what_ mean?"

"The ring! As long as I have it, you'll always be with me? Are you leaving? Am _I_ leaving?"

"I'm leaving."

"You are," I said, hiding the anger and question and hurt in my voice.

"I am. I have to figure out who this guy is—the one who killed your aunt. I have to stop him before he gets to you, Noll." He walked out of the room and descended down the stairs.

"And what about me?" I went to the top of the stairs. He was already at the bottom, "Am I just going to sit at home with Emilie and wait, like a princess in a fairytale?" He stopped.

"Call it whatever you want, but that's what I intended on happening." I bit my lip and crossed my arms, furious.

"How soon are you leaving?"

"Tomorrow morning."

"Tomorrow morn—" I let out a cry of anguish, turning half-away. "What were you trying to do, sneak out so I wouldn't notice?"

"I was going to tell you at dinner."

"So you were. And how long did you know about this whole leaving thing?"

"I decided on it this morning." I scoffed and walked to my room, so frustrated I almost burst. I came back out a minute later. He was in the parlor, looking at the newspaper.

"I'm coming, too." He looked up.

"No you're not."

"Yes, I am. It'll do me no good to sit at home with only Emilie as a guard. Do you realize how easy it would be for that man to just break down the door and kill me?" I saw Tintin's hand tighten around the side of the newspaper, something he did when he realized I might be in danger.

"All right, all right. You can come." I smiled a little smile before going back to my room. I stared at myself in the mirror, touching my face, thinking. I walked downstairs slowly; Tintin was still reading the newspaper. I went to him and gently kissed him, relieved when he kissed me back. When we broke, our noses were against each other. I felt his breath on my face as he murmured, "Promise me you'll stay safe."

"I promise," I whispered, kissing him again.


	2. Adventurers

Two

Adventurers

That night, I slept terribly. I tossed and turned in my bed, my mind wracked by a nightmare.

"After all I've done for you!" Aunt Martha screamed at me, "You're leaving to go live with some boy!"

"You haven't done _anything_ for me," I shrieked, "You locked me in the attic, you fed me scraps for supper and you never let me go to school to get a proper education. I'm surprised you're not _happy_ I'm leaving." I was in a flashback of the last conversation I had ever had with Aunt Martha.

"I did everything I could for you after your parents died," Martha argued. I turned my head away; so angry with her I could explode, "I gave you a place to stay so you wouldn't have to live in that orphanage. I gave you clothes and a room, and this is the thanks I get? My own niece, the one I saved after her parents died, just flat out leaving me. Just go, you thoughtless little coward—get out of my house!" I began to walk towards the door, but stopped as I put my hand on the doorknob. I turned to face her, furious.

"I am _not_ a coward," I said, voice shaking, "_You_ are. If you actually cared for me you would be begging at my knees for me not to go, but you're not. You _want_ me to go—so I will. Good day, Aunt Martha." I slammed the door after myself and ran home, flinging myself on my bed and sobbing into the mattress.

I awoke then, tears in my eyes and some running down my cheeks. Tintin was in the doorway, and once he saw I was awake he went to me.

"Are you all right?" He asked, sitting down on the bed next to me. I nodded, sniffing. "Just another bad dream?" When I didn't respond, he continued with the questions. "What about?"

"Aunt Martha." He raised his eyebrows, and I continued. "Remember back in August, when I went to see her to say I was coming to stay with you?" He nodded. "She was so furious, she said some things I'm sure she didn't mean…" I closed my eyes in pain and he took my hand.

"Don't worry," he murmured, "We'll find who killed her." I let out a weak smile before falling back asleep. When I awoke the next morning, Tintin was sitting at my window seat, sleeping. I sat up and smiled at him. He looked so gentle and sweet with the morning light filtering through my white curtains falling on him.

"Tintin," I called him, and he blinked his eyes open.

"Aye—yes, Nollie? Are you okay?"

"I'm fine—but what are you still doing in here?"

"I had to make sure you were going to be all right." I smiled at this—no one had ever done that for me before. "Well, are you ready to set off on another adventure, my love?" I nodded slowly. I was a little unsure about this adventure, especially since we were dealing with the man who had killed my parents and aunt.

"So where do we start?" I asked. He was getting up and stretching.

"Your old house." I froze.

"I—I thought you went there already?"

"No, I was too concerned about you. Well, come on, we gotta get going!" He walked out into the hall, closing the door behind him. I was sliding out of bed when the door opened again. "Oh, and Nollie?" He asked.

"Yes?"

"I love you." I smiled at him—he was beaming.

"I love you, too."

I put on a soft pink dress and my black leather shoes before going downstairs to breakfast. I nearly inhaled my food, making sure my last meal before the journey was worthwhile. Tintin stared at me, a smile crossing his face when I stopped eating.

"Miss Nollie! You'll choke!" Emilie chided when she came to give me my orange juice, "Slow down!"

"Leave her be, Emilie, she's hungry," Tintin defended me.

Ten minutes later, we were in our coats and hats and gloves, walking towards my old house. When it came into view, I took a deep breath, worried at what would happen. Tintin went up to the door and knocked. We stood there for a few minutes, waiting. When nobody answered, he reached for the doorknob and opened the door.

The house hadn't been touched in the four years it had been empty. The parlor was still as it had looked the day I left for the orphanage, and I went to the fireplace, touching the picture of my parents on their wedding day, next to that was a picture of my mother and I when I was only two, then me and my father in front of the Christmas tree when I was ten. I felt the sting of tears in my eyes and Tintin went to me and held me while I cried.

"Hey, hey," he murmured, "You going to be all right?" I nodded. "Do you want to stay here while I look around a little bit?"

"No," I shook my head, "I'd be helpful. Besides—I don't want to be alone in here."

"Understood," he murmured. He kissed my forehead before going to the bookshelf by the stairs. "What's this?" He asked, taking a book down and dusting off the cover. I went towards him, trying to see what the cover said.

"That's my name," I said, pointing to my mother's cursive, "This is my book!" I exclaimed, "My father wrote everything I need to know in this book. It was going to be my eighteenth birthday present." I took it from Tintin and opened it. The first page of the book said: To my darling daughter Nollie Angeline Roberts, from your father Jonathon Roberts."

We looked through the book for an entire hour before reaching the empty pages—the pages he was going to fill out before he died. I felt a lump form in my throat.

"What's this?" Tintin pointed to a hardly legible sentence in the bottom corner of the page. It was so small he had to put the page right in front of his face to read it. "It says, fourteen pages forward, two back—that's where the crest's secrets lie." He looked at me, and then began flipping fourteen pages forward. "Thirteen, fourteen," he said aloud, "Now two back…" He went two pages back and a browning envelope fell onto his lap. There was faded writing on the front.

"_Nan_," I murmured, thinking, "Nancy Roberts was my grandmother, but my grandfather called her Nan," I exclaimed, taking the envelope and opening it. It was a letter written to my grandmother from my grandfather.

Nan—

I've hidden it. That crest is now where nobody can find it, save for you, me, John and Martha. Imagine what they'll think when they see how much money is in there when they are old enough to find it! They'll be rich! I've enclosed the map inside the envelope—it's very small, so anybody who isn't a part of this family can't see it. Hide this letter well, Nan.

Love, Jonathon

Tintin was already looking inside the envelope, but with no result.

"Thanks a lot, Grandfather John," he muttered, and I glared at him. "What? He lied to us!"

"No, look," I flipped the letter over. My father had written something on it.

That's my clever girl, Nollie. I hid the map in your room so if anyone was to find this letter they couldn't find the map. Remember our riddles? Well here's one for you—"I have a red inside but a wood outside. I hold the most valuable treasure of all. Figured it out yet?

Love, Daddy

"Most valuable treasure of all…" Tintin murmured. We went upstairs to my room, still full of dolls and books and red-checkered dresses. After examining my old belongings for a few minutes, I found it.

"Grandmother's jewelry box!" I shouted, running to the wooden box on top of my miniature vanity, "My grandfather gave it to her as a wedding present—out of _love_—that's the most valuable treasure of all!" I opened it, and sure enough, the inside was lined with red velvet. I went through all the drawers but with no luck.

"What if we checked under the velvet lining? I doubt it's glued down…" Tintin suggested. I went through the drawers again, this time lifting up the velvet lining. On the very last drawer, which held my hairbrush, was the map.

"It's in Blackpool England?" I said aloud, shocked, "Grandfather really _didn't_ want anyone to find it!"

"Well if it's as much money as he told your grandmother, of course," Tintin murmured, "We best be going, if we're to get to Blackpool while we're still young." He hurried down the stairs, Snowy at his heels, but I hung back in my room, holding my old dolly, Cassandra. Her China smile was still shining. She had on her yellow sundress, yellow Mary Jane's and white stockings. Her long, curly brown hair fell around my hand. I stared into her blue China eyes, falling into a flashback.

_"Look, Nollie, look at what Daddy found!" My father entered the room. I was sitting on the floor, playing with my dollies Cassandra and Samantha, having a tea party._

_ "What, Daddy?" I asked, looking at his gentle, smiley face. He pulled a small ragdoll from behind his back._

_ "It's Marie!" I laughed in glee as he handed me my old doll, "Where did you find her?" I held her in my arms like a real baby before leaning down to give her a kiss. _

"_Your old daddy had some help by your mama," he told me. My mother came into the room behind him then, and he wrapped his arm around her shoulders. _

"_Thank you, Mama," I smiled at her._

"_Your welcome, my little angel."_

"Nollie? Are you all right?" I was snapped out of my flashback by Tintin's voice coming from behind me. I realized then the tears were streaming down my face, and I shook my head.

"No, I'm not." I turned to face him, Cassandra still in my hand.

"What's her name?" He asked, looking at Cassandra.

"This is Cassandra," I smiled, putting her down before pointing to Samantha, "That's Samantha, and the rag doll is Marie."

"They're very pretty." We stood there in silence, looking at my dolls for a minute before leaving.

The train ride was long. Tintin and I examined the map three times, making sure we knew exactly where we were going. After a while, I fell asleep. When I awoke, it was night and the train was stopped in a station. I looked at Tintin sleepily.

"Where are we?" I asked groggily.

"I don't know," he murmured slowly, matching my drowsiness.

At that very moment, two people were shoved into the seats directly in front of us, waking us up even more.

"You will sit here if you wish to stay on this train," the conductor growled from the aisle. We stared at them awkwardly after the conductor left, startled. There was a girl about nineteen and a tired-looking woman.

"Hi," said the girl, "I'm Emmeline and this is my friend, Gladys—but you already knew that."

"Actually, I didn't. Nice to meet you," Tintin reached over to shake their hands, "I'm Tintin, and this is Nollie." I smiled at them. Something about Emmeline was familiar. I felt as if I had heard that voice before, like in a dream of some sort.

"Tintin. What a fascinating name," she smiled.

"Thank you." Her eyes. It was Emmeline's eyes that were so familiar. They were gray with amber flecks—like burning embers.

"_Rawnie_?" I blurted, and she looked at me.

"How did you know?"

"Your eyes. I've never seen anyone else with eyes that color."

"Well you're quite observant, aren't you?" Kioni smiled.

"So, how long have you two been together?" Rawnie asked curiously after a slight pause.

"Since France, on our way home," Tintin explained.

"Oh, you were right, Rawnie. They really are in love," Kioni cooed, noticing how Tintin and I looked at each other sweetly.

"I'm never wrong," Rawnie said matter-of-factly. I smiled softly at my friends; happy they were with us again.


	3. Blackpool

Three

Blackpool

"So where are you two off to now?" Rawnie asked a few minutes later.

"Blackpool," I said excitedly, "We're going to find my family crest. Apparently, it's worth a lot of money—"

"Because your parents and aunt were murdered over it," Kioni said gravely, "How awful. I'm sorry, Nollie." I noticed Rawnie's expression had changed from curious to fear.

"Your dream," she murmured. So she knew what I was feeling, all the fear and the hate and the vulnerability mixed up inside of me, churning in my head, making me wonder if I would make it past this journey—she knew about it. She could feel it. Rawnie was a very powerful tyro sorceress.

"What dream?" Tintin asked, obviously confused.

"When you were in Egypt, Nollie had a nightmare in which everyone she knew and loved were dead—_everybody_. And it's starting to come true…" Rawnie explained. I saw the fear in his eyes as he realized he was one of the people in my dream that had died, as he understood he might _actually_ die.

Our section of the train car was silent from then on. Whether everyone was too afraid to speak, or so deep in thought they forgot to talk, I don't know.

"Next stop, Blackpool, England," the conductor called, "If your stop is in Blackpool, get your things ready to go." He was a Scottish man with wiry black hair and piercing green eyes—eyes that were watching me like a hawk watching a field mouse. I panicked and nudged Tintin, who was dozing.

"Hmm? What is it, Noll?" He sat up, blinking the sleep from his eyes as he looked around.

"The conductor… he's staring at me."

"Well I don't blame him, you're awfully pretty," Rawnie commented.

"No, it's not like a smitten boy, or Tintin, for that matter, like he knows who I am, almost."

Rawnie looked over at the man, but he wasn't looking at me anymore. "Odd," she murmured, "Do you think he was connected to the murder?"

"Maybe that's who he is," Tintin said quietly, "The murderer." My heart raced at this. _What if he was right? What if he really was the man who killed Aunt Martha and my parents?_

The man was coming closer, checking tickets again. Another conductor had checked our tickets already, but he had to do it again. I looked at my ticket, hands shaking. Luckily, it didn't have my name on it, just a number.

"May I see your ticket, please?" The man asked again. I hadn't heard him the first time; I was so busy fretting. I handed it to him and he punched a hole in it before handing it back to me. "There you go, miss. Say—what's your name?" I blurted the first name I could think of.

"Nancy… Nancy Blakesfield."

"Oh, forgive me, I thought you were someone else." I bit my lip and he left.

"Nice job, Nancy," Tintin joked.

"I wasn't going to tell him my real name!" I shouted under my breath so the conductor couldn't hear, "What if he's really the guy?"

"Don't worry, he can't get to you. Not as long as I'm standing." I smiled weakly at him.

"A hotel!" Rawnie exclaimed after we got out of the train station. We all followed her inside, and Tintin paid for two rooms, three nights each.

"We'll pay for another night or so if we need it," he told me as he walked up the stairs.

Opening the door to our room, you would've believed he had paid for an exceptionally expensive room, but it was just the style of the hotel. What stood out the most was the fact there was a bed, a washbasin, an armoire, a changing screen, a window, and a bookshelf.

"Wow," I murmured, "I didn't expect it to be _this_ nice." I was so used to trashy hotel rooms, where the bed was made out of an empty cardboard box with a miniature blanket inside, and your only light source was a light bulb hanging from the ceiling that you could never turn off. This room was something my rich friend Charlotte would have as a last resort. After we had set our bags down, Tintin pulled the map from his pocket and looked at it.

"It's on an island," he said finally, and I stopped putting my few clothes in the armoire that was in the room.

"What is?"

"The crest." Confused, I went over to him. My nightgown was still draped over my arms.

"How can you tell?" He pointed to the spot where my grandfather had buried the crest.

"That's in the ocean, so it has to be on an island of some sort." I nodded.

"Makes sense," I smiled, putting the soft, pink dress in the armoire. I shut the drawer I had been putting my clothes in and touched my ring finger, expecting to feel the cold, hard metal ring there.

It wasn't there.

"My ring!" I yelped.

"What about it?" He asked, looking up.

"It's gone! Oh, it must've fallen off—" I opened up the drawers and searched through the clothes for it, but it wasn't there. I tried not to cry.

Just then, Rawnie and Kioni walked into the room.

"What's going on? We heard shouting," Rawnie asked.

"Nollie lost the ring I gave her before we left," Tintin explained.

"Oh, well I'm sure it's not far," said Kioni. She smiled, waved her hand a few times, then held her hand in a fist in front of me, face-up so I could see her fingernails. She opened her hand and my ring was inside of it. I let out a squeak of joy.

"How did you do that?" I asked, taking it in my index finger and thumb.

"I'm a sorceress. Oh—and you might need this, just so you don't loose it anymore," she waved her hand around again, faster this time, and when she opened her hand again, there was a silver chain in it. I took it from her and put the ring on it before clasping it shut and placing it around my neck.

"Thank you, Kioni," I hugged her, "I don't know what I would have done without it."

"The crest is on an island?" Rawnie sounded surprised.

"What?" I was utterly confused by what she had just said.

"Mind-reading," Tintin nodded, "That's it."

"An island, eh?" Said Kioni, "Might want to get a move on." I looked at Tintin, who looked at the floor.

"We'd like to settle in a bit more, first," I announced, shooing them out of the room. Rawnie glared at me, and I rolled my eyes pathetically at her before shutting the door. I glanced over at Tintin. "You okay?"

"Fine," he looked up then, and I realized how tired he must be.

"You should get some rest." I instructed, and he chuckled. I raised an eyebrow.

"I can't sleep, we have to get to that island before _he_ gets there."

"Tintin, you're tired. It's been a long journey so far, and you didn't get that much rest on the train… You haven't slept lying down since before we left," he hesitated, and I knelt down beside him, touching his hand and looking into his eyes pleadingly. He sighed and gathered up the papers.

"I hate it when you do that," he said, getting on top of the bed. I smiled and took a book from the shelf, lying down on the other side of the bed to read.

"I _am_ a pretty good persuader," I grinned. He reached over and kissed me on the cheek, and that kiss left me glowing the entire time I read the book.

It was about these funny-looking creatures called porpoises. To me, they looked like a naked rat that could swim—which was not good. The pictures made me want to gag these creatures were so ugly. Luckily, they were only located in the Pacific Ocean, so I was safe from those ugly creatures—for now, at least.

Finally, when I was fed up with the ugly porpoises, I shut the book, sliding off of the bed and going to the bookshelf again. When I came back, Tintin's eyes were open.

"Go back to sleep," I murmured, and he obeyed. This book was about really funny creatures called sirens—and boy, were they ugly, about ten times uglier than porpoises. This book was captivating, especially the 'Siren Spottings' portion, where it listed all of the places sirens had been spotted in.

Bacoonsville, Nova Scotia

Blackpool, England

I knew exactly what Tintin would say before he said it.

"Damn," he muttered. I could hear the tint of sleep in his voice. He flipped to the part about their song.

"It doesn't effect women, but it effects men," I explained.

"I bet they're all over the place," he groaned.

"What if you tied your wrist to mine, and so when you tried to jump in to find them, I would hold you in the boat?" I suggested.

"That might work," he nodded. I was lying on my side, so was he, the book in between us. I looked at him gently and we leaned in.

Inches from his lips, Rawnie started talking.

"Sirens, eh?" She said loudly. I closed my eyes, trying not to blush too much as I fell away from him.

"Yeah, sirens," Tintin tried to hide the embarrassment and slight annoyance as he nodded.

"Oh, Rawnie, you disrupted their moment," Kioni came in beside Rawnie, shaking her head. "I told her that if you were either sleeping or having a moment to leave you alone, but she never listens!"

"It's okay, Kioni," I said weakly, my embarrassment seeping through, "It's gone now."

"They weren't even _having_ a moment, Kioni," Rawnie rolled her eyes.

"What are you blind, girl?" Kioni nearly smacked Rawnie upside the head with the back of her hand, "They _were_ having a moment."

Everything was silent before Kioni spoke again.

"Rawnie and I overheard some people talking about a bazaar happening somewhere in town and we were wondering if you'd like to join us," she explained. I raised an eyebrow.

"_Bazaar_?"

"Outdoor market," said Rawnie. I nodded.

"I'll go," I announced. Tintin sat up at this.

"I'm coming, too."

"All right, then. We'll see you in a few minutes." The two sorceresses left, and I looked at Tintin, smiling sideways.

"You're coming because of me, aren't you?" I asked, and he shook his head.

"No, I'm coming because I want to. Why, do you want me to stay?" I shook my head.

"It's just… It seemed like, after I said I was going, you had to go, to protect me, because you thought something might happen to me." His jaw quivered and he turned away to slide off of the bed.

"Maybe I was," he said quietly, putting on his coat. I got up, helping him, and he looked at me softly, "But it's only because I love you." I smiled and buttoned a few of the buttons on the coat, glancing up at him every once and a while. When I finished, he grabbed my hand and looked at me, eyes still that soft, gentle blue he had used before. I blinked slowly at him before leaning in again.

This time, we were actually able to kiss, and Rawnie didn't interrupt until after we broke.

"Ready to go?" She asked, and I nodded, going to the door.

"Sure thing," I grinned.

The outdoor market was held in the middle of a park. It was drizzly and cold outside, and we all had to rub our hands together to keep warm.

"How do you two survive in this sort of weather?" Kioni asked us on our walk there.

"We're not from Egypt," I explained, "Can you imagine how uncomfortably hot it was there for us?"

"Not to mention the large amount of sand," Tintin added. Rawnie and Kioni laughed at this.

We had been browsing through the outdoor market for some time when we heard the racket coming from an alley. It sounded like someone was throwing something at a wall.

"What _is_ that?" Rawnie asked, hurrying towards the commotion. We followed her into the alley, where a man was beating up a younger fellow. "Stop it!" She demanded, and the man ran off. Kioni stooped down to help the boy up. He was bloodied and bruised, his right eye nearly shut from the swelling.

"Are you all right?" She asked, and he didn't speak. Instead, he brought his right hand on top of his face and inhaled slowly. When he exhaled, he took his hand from his face, and the blood and all the other damage from his beating was gone.

"You're a sorcerer!" Rawnie breathed.

_If you totally hated Rawnie for ruining Tintin and Nollie's kiss, raise your hand._  
_If you raised your hand, write a review._  
_If you didn't raise your hand but you loved this chapter and want me to post chapter four, review :)_

_**Please Note: It takes me a long time to put the chapters up for Tintin and the Family Crest because I have to write them. I didn't finish this story when I started posting it-but when I started posting Tintin and the Prophecy Stone, I had already finished the story. (Does that make sense?) Please do not hate me if I'm slow :)**_


	4. Amaru

Four

Amaru

"As are you," he spoke in a smooth, gentle tone to Rawnie, and she nodded.

"Kioni is my teacher," she nodded.

"A tyro. I was a tyro not too long ago."

"What's your name?" Kioni asked.

"Amaru."

"That means strong. If your name means strong, why didn't you fight back?" Rawnie asked.

"It would be a disrespect to him if I fought back," explained Amaru, "You will understand later in your training, Rawnie."

For a moment, I was totally lost. _How did he know Rawnie's name?_ And then I remembered when Rawnie first met us in Egypt. _He read it off of her mind._ Sometimes, I wished I could be a sorceress.

"What about you? Your name is Rawnie, that means ladylike," Amaru stated, and Kioni laughed.

"If anything, Rawnie is _far_ from ladylike. When she was a young girl, all she ever wanted to do was play and get dirty," the sorceress chuckled. "Come on, Amaru. It's not the best idea to talk about these things in public." She led us all back to the hotel, where we sat in the sorceress' room and got to know Amaru.

Without the blood and bruises on his face, he was quite attractive. He had deep, emerald eyes, dark hair and a gentle face. I estimated he was about twenty-two. His build was tough, too, even though the moment we first laid eyes on him, he looked like a scrawny orphan, trying to get away from his abusive caretaker. Like me.

"So, Nollie and Tintin," he finally said to us, "You're from London?"

"Well, it's not exactly London, it's just outside of it…" I stammered, and he nodded.

"You've had a rough life, haven't you?" I nodded a silent reply. I really didn't want to talk about any of it. While listening to Amaru talk about his life was interesting, I was tired and didn't want to converse anymore. I looked over at Kioni, letting her read that I was tired. She nodded, and I got up.

"If you'll excuse me, it's getting rather late," I murmured, glancing out the window, "And we're headed to the island tomorrow." I glanced at Tintin, who made no move to leave with me, so I turned on my heel and went back to our room next-door.

I got into my nightgown and picked up the book about sirens. Even if I was tired, I still needed to get as much information about them as I could before tomorrow morning. When I first opened the book, it was a picture of a siren. I took in a breath quickly, trying not to scream in terror. _That was what we were going to deal with tomorrow? No, thank you._ They looked like Medusa from one of Tintin's books about Greek Myths mixed with a fish. Horrifying. I closed my eyes and turned the page, hoping it wouldn't have another picture of a siren on it.

Luckily, it didn't. This page was all about the death toll from sirens. They had killed 2,370 and only five ever made it out of an attack alive. Great, that made our chances of surviving the encounter with them tomorrow basically impossible.

The next page was a short, summarized chapter of _The Odyssey_, by Homer; the chapter where they go through siren-infested waters. I read it, and was relieved when Odysseus and his men made it through safely. But Odysseus had a crew. I only had Tintin. So what would happen if he jumped in after the sirens, and I couldn't hold him down? He was stronger than me. If I fell into the water with him, the sirens would take our boat down and we'd be stuck in the water. We would have to choose between drowning and being killed by sirens, and frankly, I didn't want either one.

Suddenly, I was terrified for tomorrow. Before I learned about the sirens, I was almost excited to go find my family crest, to see why it was so important to the man who killed my family, but now I didn't want to go. I crouched on the bed, hovering over the book, my head in my hands. I didn't know what to do. We had to get to the crest before the man did, but I didn't want to have to cross the sirens… The horrifying, ugly, evil, stupid sirens. Darn them and their stupid song. Tintin came in just then, slowly, but I didn't hear him. He probably expected me to be sleeping.

"You're not asleep?" Was the first thing he asked, and I jumped, throwing the book off of the bed.

"N—no. I was reading about the sirens," He had scared me so badly my voice shook. He chuckled and picked up the book, handing it back to me.

"Sorry if I scared you," he kissed my hair.

"It's okay. You can read the book—I'm going to sleep." He sat down on the bed, leaning against his pillow, and I snuggled up against him. Within minutes I was asleep.

"Rise and shine, time to go to the island!" Rawnie's voice shook my dream. I snuggled closer to Tintin and ignored her. My dream was about a soft, gray puppy I found while walking in the park back home. I was picking it up when it's face melted into Rawnie's, making me jump, drop the puppy, and open my eyes.

"Why would you do that?" I asked sleepily, "It was such a cute puppy, too."

"The puppy isn't going to the island to find it's family crest," Rawnie chided softly, "_You_ are. Get up." Not wanting her to throw some strange sorceress spells at me to get me up, I got out of bed lazily and went to get dressed. Tintin hadn't slept, and it showed. After Rawnie left and I had pulled my dress on behind the changing screen, he yawned. I tugged my coat on and had my hand on the doorknob by this time.

"We'll get some coffee on the way to the boat docks," I instructed, "Come on, we need to hurry."

"Yes, of course, Nollie," he got up, stretched, and came to the door beside me.

We drank the coffee quickly in a small café before hurrying to the boat docks. Tintin rented a small dinghy from a boat renter on the beach—who warned us about the sirens—and we set sail. He tied his wrist to mine with a strong rope right before getting into the boat.

It wasn't until we were in the middle of the sea when a faint, almost chilling song reached my ears.

"The sirens," Tintin murmured, and I froze. I was suddenly very afraid.

"The island's right there," I pointed with my free hand to the pile of earth in the middle of the water, "We can make it." I was trying to reassure myself so I wouldn't freak myself out too much.

"Yeah, we can." I looked at him, and his eyes seemed vacant, as if the sirens had already possessed him. I grabbed my oar and tried to keep rowing, but we started going in circles. I could tell the sirens were drawing closer and closer, and I became so terrified I stopped rowing. When Tintin tugged away from me, to the edge of the boat, I tugged him back, hands shaking.

"You're not going anywhere," I told him. I heard a splash in the water beside me and turned towards it with a gasp. The hauntingly beautiful siren song drowned out all the other sounds in the world as they began to claw at the boat, shoving and grabbing at it, trying to get us out. They were hungry for more people. I wasn't about to let them have us, though. I picked up my oar and thrust it at one of them. It hit her on the head with a sickening crack and another one pulled the oar out of my hand and down into the water. We had to get out of here. I had no more weapons. Suddenly, Tintin lurched from his seat and plunged into the ocean. I hit the water, chained to Tintin from the rope tied to our wrists. Briefly, I went under, but I quickly surfaced, completely soaked, and let out a scream as something grabbed my leg. _A siren_. I kicked it away, going to Tintin and smacking him.

"Wake up!" I screamed, "Wake up, Tintin, snap out of it!" He shook his head and blinked, looking straight in front of us.

"Oh, damn," he muttered, noticing the sirens closing in on us.

There was no way to get out of the water now—the sirens were completely surrounding us, and they had destroyed our boat. I turned in the water, seeing all of them, trying not to lock eyes with theirs, terrified of what was to happen next.

"If this is the end," Tintin said, looking at me, "I'm glad I get to be with you." The sirens were closing in on us, faster and faster. I turned my head into his shoulder, eyes closed, so I wouldn't have to see the end of us.

I expected to hear the sirens' song right in my ear as they got even closer, but instead there was the sound of someone jumping into the water beside us. I opened my eyes, confused, and gasped.

"Amaru!" I shouted, shocked and surprised and overjoyed that the sorcerer had come to our rescue. Tintin opened his eyes when I said his name.

"_Evaporate_!" He shouted, thrusting his hand at the group of sirens in front of him, and, just as they had been there, they were gone, into thin air. Amaru evaporated the rest of the sirens before swimming over to us. I quickly forgot I was still tied to Tintin and swam to him, wrapping my arms around him.

"You saved us!" I exclaimed, "Thank you!" He helped us back into his boat.

"How did you know we were in trouble?" Asked Tintin, untying his wrist from mine.

"I'm a sorcerer, Tintin, let's just say my powers told me."

"Well, whatever you powers told you, you saved my Nollie, and that's all that matters to me." Amaru rowed us to the boat dock and helped us out before driving us back to the hotel.

That evening, I was undressing behind the screen, Tintin lying on the bed with a book. When I came out, I was tying up my hair.

"Tintin?" I murmured, and I heard a faint 'hmm' from him, "What did you mean by, 'you saved my Nollie, and that's all that matters to me?'" He closed his book slightly and looked over at me.

"I meant that if you had died, I never would've forgiven myself, but if it had been the opposite, I would've been the happiest dead man there was." I smiled and lay down next to him as he said this.

"But it wasn't either—so what does that make you?"

"Perfectly happy," he murmured, kissing me. We fell asleep like that, and I must say it was cozy. I felt so safe and secure next to him, knowing he would protect me.

_Sorry it took so long to finish this chapter! I already had the last quarter finished when I started it, but I got all busy while writing it... My turtle got sick, then my birthday came, then I went on vacation, then I started school, then my turtle died... But here it is, all fresh and new! Please review for Chapter Five!_


	5. Fight

Five

Fight

The next day, Tintin and I walked to a park about half a mile from the hotel. He held the map secure in his coat pocket, and he kept his hand over it protectively. Even though he just wanted a quiet day to enjoy Blackpool and take a break from the crest, I objected and said we could use the time to figure out what to do about our enemies.

"Okay, so we know he wants the crest, and it's there, so our best show would be waking up early—no, that wouldn't work… How about we go there late tonight and find it? No, Kioni wouldn't want us up too late… Um…" I tried plotting the route on my own, but it was no use. I wasn't good at it.

"Can't we just relax and do nothing for the day?" Tintin asked, and I raised my eyebrows.

"No," I said, looking back at the map, "We have to get there before whoever that guy is does first. Whatever's in that crest, we need to get it before he does! It belongs to _me_, not him."

"How did he know about it?" Tintin asked, pulling the map away from me, "It's not something everyone in the world knows, right? He must've known someone in your family who mentioned it, but they lost contact or something, and after a while, he showed up at their house, shot them, and figured he could find it on his own?" That scared me a bit. How _did_ this man know about my family—and the crest?

"That's a good point," I said, reaching for the map. Just then, a cloaked man sat down on the bench beside us. His dark brown trench coat collar was folded up, and his gray fedora tilted down so we couldn't see his eyes. "Hello," I said cheerily. He didn't respond. "Can you not speak?" Tintin hit me gently in the stomach to shut me up.

"Say, Nollie, want some tea? I'll buy you a cup. Come on." And with that, Tintin grabbed my arm and yanked me up. He was moving so quickly that a gust of wind caught the open map and blew it from his clutch, like a kite. He grasped it back quickly, folded it, and put it back in his coat.

But it was too late. The gray-fedora man had already seen it.

"Go," Tintin hissed in my ear, shoving me forward. I stumbled, catching a quick glance back as I caught myself. Tintin pulled his revolver from his pocket and aimed it at the gray-fedora man, who pulled his gun from his pocket and aimed it back at him. I dashed behind a tree, which was poor cover, but would work for now. Tintin fired at him and dashed behind the tree as the gray-fedora man shot right back. He landed with a yelp before clutching at his upper right arm, tossing his gun. I got up and shot at the man from behind the tree. The gray-fedora man fell on the ground with a moan and collapsed. I figured I had shot him in a dangerous area and felt very successful. It wasn't until I looked back down at Tintin, grinning because I had severely wounded an enemy, when I got the sense of fear knocked back into me.

When he took his hand off of his right arm, it was drenched in blood. He let out a small grunt of disapproval before putting his hand back on it. I let out a squeak of horror and he slowly got to his feet, looking at me, eyes sparking pain.

"We should get out of here," he said quietly, and I looked at him in terror. "Come on, Noll, I'm fine." I looked at him in disbelief and he began to walk away, back to the hotel.

"Can Rawnie fix it?" I asked, and he shrugged.

"I dunno, I'm not magical."

As soon as we got back to the hotel, I rushed Tintin up to Rawnie and Kioni's room, throwing the door open.

I must've looked frightening to them, my hair whipped around, my face distraught, because the first thing Kioni did when she saw me was stand up.

"What _happened_?" Rawnie nearly shrieked when Tintin came inside, his shirt bloody.

"Tintin was shot," I said, voice quavering. Kioni's jaw dropped and Rawnie raced forward, taking him gently and seating him in an armchair. She took his hand from his wound and looked at it carefully, gritting her teeth.

"It looks bad," she said finally, "I need to clean up the blood." Kioni stepped forward, but she waved her away. "I can do this, Kioni," she said softly, "Just get some water, please." I was slightly shocked at Rawnie's actions. _She's nearly done with her apprenticeship_, I presumed, _and she wants to try and heal him on her own_. Kioni came back with the water and gave it to Rawnie, who ripped a bit of cloth from Tintin's already ruined shirt and dipped it into the water, squeezing the excess water from it when she pulled it out of the liquid, and placed it on his arm. She whispered something and the crimson blood was gone.

"Rawnie," said Kioni, signaling that it was her turn to help. The tyro sorceress backed away to my side, her hands pink. She waved them around, whispering something, and when she stopped, they were clean.

"So what happened?" She asked.

"Well, we were in the park, when this man sat down next to us… He looked like a spy, or a detective, like Sherlock Holmes," I explained, feeling like a know-it-all, "He was wearing this dark brown overcoat and gray fedora, and—"

"Nollie started talking to him," Tintin said, his voice strained from the pain, "And I realized who he was, so I pulled her away, but I mentioned her name…"

"Then the map began to fly away, but he caught it," I murmured, "And so Tintin threw me at a tree and I hid back there, and they drew their guns and he shot him."

"The map," Tintin murmured, feeling his pocket, "It's gone."

"_What_?" Said Rawnie.

"It must've fallen out of my pocket… It's _Nollie's_ fault," he spat, standing and pointing at me. Three pairs of eyes were staring me down. Rage bubbled inside of me.

"_My_ fault?" I shrieked, nearly smacking him across the face, "_My_ fault? How is this _my_ fault?"

"You wanted to take the map with us to the park. We could've left it with Rawnie and Kioni and it would've been safe!"

"Oh, would it? You really think it would?"

"Yes it would, because they're sorceresses and they can take care of it—they're not some silly girl who thinks that because a man falls to the ground and fakes being in absolute pain is success!" _What? He was faking? _

"Well _I'm_ not some impractical boy who thinks he knowseverything, but in reality, he doesn't!" He glared at me and I glared back.

"At least I can plot a good course to the island," he snapped. We argued like this for five more minutes before he delivered the final blow. "And you know what," he said, "I wish Amaru hadn't saved you after all." I gaped at him, horrified.

"Well maybe we just shouldn't be together then!" I yelled.

"Wait—Nollie—" I heard Rawnie behind me, trying to calm us down. But it was too late.

"I agree," he said smugly, collapsing into the armchair. I let out a cry and raced out of the room. As I left, I heard Rawnie call for me, but I didn't care.

I raced into our room and threw myself on the bed, bawling. I pulled one of the pillows up to my face and threw my head into it. It smelled like Tintin, so I hurled it against the wall, letting out a wail as it crumpled onto the floor lifelessly. _What had I done?_ _The one person who actually loved me—who was still alive— and I just threw him away like he was nothing? What kind of person does that? _I lay there, sobbing; until my head was pounding so hard I had to stop. That's when the door opened. Thinking it was Tintin, I sat up, pillow in hand, ready to throw it at him.

"Hey, hey, it's just me," said Rawnie, "We need to talk."

After she released the pillow from my grip, I began to snivel.

"What did I do, Rawnie?" I blubbered.

"You simply got angry and split up with your boyfriend," she said gently, wiping away a tear from my cheek, "It's normal, Nollie. Everyone goes through it."

"Yeah, but he's the only person left in the world who actually loves me," I said sadly.

"That's not true," she said, "Kioni and Niara and I love you."

"But not like Tintin does. Not all kissy-and-huggy."

"Nollie, stop beating yourself up over this," she said, glancing over at the pillow I threw at the wall, "And so will he." So Tintin was taking this the same way. That's good, I suppose. There was a pause for a few minutes. "Oh, come on, Nollie. You both love each other, and this whole not-being together thing is tearing you both to pieces. Why not make up?"

"Because _I_ was the one to suggest breaking up," I said quietly, "And so he probably thinks I don't ever want to get back together with him. You saw us, Rawnie… If either of us had a gun, there'd be a body in your room right now."

"You know that's not true," she chided, "Neither of you would dare think of pulling a gun at each other."

"Would we? Because—"

"Stop digging that hole deeper, Nollie Roberts," Rawnie cut me off, "Go apologize."

"No!" I said, pulling away, "He has to apologize to me first."

"Why?"

"Because _he_ started it—_and_ he said he wished Amaru hadn't saved me from the sirens."

"Very mature, Nollie," Rawnie said, standing, "Blaming him for this entire thing, because _he started it_."

"Well he did!" I shouted as she left. When she was gone, I felt alone and small. I noticed the pillow I had thrown still sitting by the wall, and I went to put it back on the bed. As I was picking it up, I heard the door open. Silence. _Rawnie?_ I wondered. No, it wasn't her. She would've said something. Same with Kioni. I turned slowly and caught a glimpse of red hair. I smiled for a millisecond before running to him and wrapping my arms around his neck.

"I'm sorry," he said, gathering me in his arms.

"No, I'm sorry," I murmured, looking at him gently, "I was just mad and—" he kissed me.

"It's my fault," I started to object but he stopped me. "No, really, Noll, it is. My arm hurt so badly, and I took it out on you. And I shouldn't have… Especially what I said about Amaru."

"It's okay… And I promise you, tomorrow we can go to the park and just have a carefree day." He snorted.

"We can't," said he, "We have to get to the island."

"This has been the best day ever," I murmured sarcastically.

"Yeah—it has, hasn't it? I mean, we weren't even broken up for half an hour and it still felt like the world was being torn apart."

"I never want to do this again," I said softly.

"I agree," he said so quietly I almost couldn't hear him.

I slept terribly that night, my mind ridden with a dream—a dream that happened to be very confusing and yet extremely straightforward.

I was in my old house—not Martha's, not Tintin's, _my_ house. The house I had resided in with my parents. I was cooking, causing the entire dwelling to smell like bread. This was funny because I didn't know how to bake bread yet—I didn't like making it that much because the day my parents died, the house smelled like bread, and it always made me think back to that day. Glancing out the window, I noticed it was a dreary day, like the one my parents died on. Suddenly, there was a _thud _from upstairs as a piece of furniture fell over and a _bang_—a gunshot. I walked out of the kitchen into the parlor, wiping my hands on my apron, strange, because I never wear aprons, and without thinking, called out a name.

"Jonathon?" I said, only my voice wasn't my voice. It was more of a voice I hadn't heard since I was twelve, my mother's. I was suddenly very confused. _I grow up, live in my old house, marry a man named Jonathon and get my mother's voice?_ No. I looked down at my shoes and that's when it hit me. I was in my mother's body. The shoes I was wearing were my father's boots—Mother wore them all the time, claiming they were more comfortable and durable than her own. _Wait a minute._ My heart nearly stopped as I realized what was happening. I tried to stop my mother from walking, but I wasn't in control, she was. I was just getting front-row seats to watching her die. I tried calling to her, '_Mother, stop!_' but she couldn't hear me. She began to walk up the stairs and I couldn't stop it. "Jonathon?" She called again. Nobody was in the landing, so she went towards Father's office. She moved quickly, as if she knew he had been shot, and let out a scream when she saw him lying on the floor of the dark room, dead. She fell to the ground beside him, feeling his hair and closing his eyes, tears streaming down her cheeks. There were footsteps behind her and she turned her head, her breath catching in her throat as she saw a man standing there, gun in hand.

"Where's the crest?" He asked.

"What crest?" Mother asked, and he pulled the hammer. "No, please—I have a daughter—"

"I'll find her, too," the man said, "What's her name?"

"Nollie—" said my mother, "Please—don't hurt her—" Eric pulled the trigger and my mother fell to the floor. She was still alive, but barely. She only lasted about a minute more before the world stopped.

"She died trying to save me," I said loudly when I awoke, sitting up and wiping the tears from my eyes.

"What?" Tintin asked sleepily, followed by a yawn, sitting up and looking at me.

"My mother died trying to save me."


	6. Fire

**Okay, so I decided to break my own rules and post chapter six even though nobody reviewed chapter five. I was just SUPER pumped because I finished six and HAD to let everyone read it! **

**Guess what, guys-Tintin and the Family Crest only has one chapter left, and that's the Epilogue! (I think the Tollie fans are going to LOVE the Epilogue, because I LOVE it-I was giggling when I figured out what would happen:) )**

Six

Fire

After I told him about my dream, I fell back asleep, and only awoke again because it was so terribly hard to breathe.

The whole room was full of smoke when I opened my eyes, coughing and sputtering. Tintin was still asleep, and I roused him.

"Tintin, wake up!" I shouted, shaking him roughly, "The building is on fire!" He sat up, examining the room, and when he noticed the smoke he got up, hurrying towards the door. He placed his hand on it and pulled back almost instantly. The fire was right outside our door.

"We're trapped!" He shouted.

"You mean… There's no way out?"

"Unless you want to go out the window… And that'd be a long drop, seeing as we're on the fifth floor."

"No—I don't want to die," I said quietly, "There's so much I want to do still…"

"Me too," Tintin said, looking back at me. I was sitting on the bed, trying to keep from crying. "And that's why I'm not going to let us die. Come on, there's got to be a better way out." He gestured for me to get up and I did. Right as I got to my place beside him the door burst open and there was Rawnie, face ashy from the fire.

"Let's go! This building won't hold up forever!" Kioni was behind the tyro, pushing back the flames. I rushed out, Tintin on my heels, and we got out of the blazing building as quick as possible. It wasn't easy—the timbers in the walls were already starting to come apart and some fell right in front of us, but we kept going until we burst through an opening in the wall and were outside.

As soon as we got out, however, something was noticeably wrong.

"Where's Amaru?" Rawnie asked frantically, looking around. Kioni was medicating her small burn with her powers, and she looked over at me.

"Nollie, you need to get to the island," she instructed, "_Now_."

"Tintin, are you coming?" I asked.

"No—I'd best stay here and help Rawnie find Amaru. Besides, I'd just attract sirens." I looked scared and he noticed. "Hey, hey, you'll be fine out there, Noll, I believe in you." I smiled weakly before kissing him, hugging him tightly and looking at him.

"I love you so much," I whispered. He kissed me again.

"I love you too," he said gently. "Go on, now." I turned and ran off. Part of me was screaming _turn back_… And the other part was saying _keep going_. I followed the part that was saying keep going, but I wished I hadn't. Even though Tintin did, _I_ didn't believe in myself. What if I wasn't able to get there in time? What if the man killed me before I even got to the island? And the sirens? When I finally reached the boat dock, I reluctantly paid the man for a small dinghy and rowed out to the island quickly.

As soon as I pulled the boat onto the sand and hid it, I went searching for the crest. I remembered what it had said on the map— _red and blue and green sometimes, a regular Christmas decoration of the isle Nhoj, this is where you find your rest; this is where you find the Crest! _I set out to find a red and blue and green flower.

I searched around for ages before coming upon an entire patch of beautiful red and blue and green flowers. There was a sign staked into the ground that read: "Samtsirhc Flowers" I recognized it as my grandfather's handwriting. _But how was I to find the crest?_ It could be hidden underneath _any_ of these plants—and there were a lot. As I pondered what to do, I found myself fiddling with the sign my grandfather had made I ran my hands along the front and back of it, and while running my hands along the back I felt something odd there. Paper, maybe. I gently removed it from behind the sign and unfolded it.

Be clever.

Three rows down, two across, five behind.

-J.R.

I deeply admired my grandfather at this moment. I went three rows of plants down, then two plants across, and finally turned and went down five more plants down the row. As I crossed the fifth plant's path, I tripped over something. After I got up, I found it to be a root from a tree nearby. I rubbed my knees while sitting on the ground next to the plant and noticed a slip of paper sticking out from under the root.

Congratulations, Johnny, Martha, I knew you could do it.

-J.R.

So this was the plant my family crest was hidden under. You'd think they'd have hidden it more discreetly. I folded the note and placed it in my pocket beside the other one before beginning to dig beside the plant with only my hands, wedging dirt between my nails and making my hands filthy. The soil was tough and hard to dig at with just hands. I dug until something scratched my nails—a piece of wood. I loosened the dirt around it and worked it out of the ground. _The crest was mine. I had finally found it. Thank you, Grandfather_. I pulled it from the dirt and dusted it off, grinning.

Just then, I heard someone walk up behind me.

_~Earlier, while Nollie was on her way to the Island~_

"Amaru's still inside," Kioni said, pulling her hand off the wall, "I'm going to go find him."

"Can't he just get himself out on his own?" I asked, thinking about the attractive young sorcerer. We had actually become friends in the few days we'd known each other, and I only hoped he couldn't tell what I really felt for him.

"He might be trapped. Stay with Tintin." My teacher disappeared into the burning building right as the firemen pulled up. I jumped to my feet and went to one of them.

"Help—my teacher just ran back into there to find our friend," I tried to sound as pathetic as possible, to make it look like I wasn't a sorceress. None of them suspected a thing as a few raced into the building after my teacher and friend. I turned back to Tintin, who was kicking a rock around with his foot. "Hey—you okay?" I asked, going over to him. He didn't look up, just kicked the rock away.

"I guess." _Liar._ I could see he was stressed over Nollie.

"She'll be fine," I said reassuringly.

"Are you sure? She's not the best at the whole killing bad guys thing."

"She may not be good at killing people, but she's really smart." Just then, Kioni and Amaru escaped from the burning building. I turned, a grin spreading across my face. "Kioni! Amaru!" I hugged them.

"Where's Nollie?" Amaru asked.

"At the island, finding the crest. Kioni sent her," I explained.

"We have to go after her," he said quickly, "Let's go!" We didn't even get to start running before a man stepped in front of us. Tintin tensed. It was the man in the gray fedora.

"Not so fast," he said, and three more men appeared behind him, clubs and handcuffs in hand.

"What did you do to her? Where is she?" Tintin yelled, and one of the men clubbed him, knocking him unconscious. Kioni and Amaru were silent as the men cuffed them, but I wouldn't let them have my wrists.

"Rawnie," Amaru said quietly. I looked at him, and he nodded, looking at my wrists. I held them out reluctantly and one of the men cuffed them, dragging all four of us away.

They threw us into a small room made of rock and connected our hands to the wall, which had four chains built onto it to connect to our cuffs. I was in between Kioni and Tintin, Amaru was on Tintin's right. The man in the gray fedora came into the room after we were chained to the wall, saw us on our knees, hands tied behind our backs, and laughed.

"Oh, this is so funny," he cackled. I glared at him and he laughed even harder. "Looks can't kill, child," he said to me, laughing some more. "You pathetic little children. You honestly think I would stop to smell the roses while that girl—Nollie—got my treasure? You think I wouldn't tie you up? The girl's _mine_ now." Tintin struggled a bit at this.

"I'm not a child," Kioni mumbled.

"What was that?" He snapped.

"I'm not a child," she snarled. He rolled his eyes.

"Who are you?" Tintin asked. I looked at his eyes and they were almost on fire they were so angry.

"Me? Oh, Nollie didn't tell you? I'm her aunt Martha's ex-fiancé, David Vircley." David laughed. I saw Tintin gape at this. "We'd known each other for a very long time—since we were children. It wasn't until after we finished high school I decided I loved her and proposed. She said yes, and everything was grand. About six months before our wedding, she told me about the crest. She said that it was worth ten times as much as her engagement ring—which was a hundred fifty, very expensive for 1909—and said after we were married we could go find it. Ha, if only. Four months later, she called it off. Said she wanted to find another man, someone who loved her more. I wasn't enough for her."

"So why did you kill them all?" Asked Kioni.

"Because I wanted that crest! I needed the money," he spat. He was turning to go, but he stopped and twisted back to us.

"And by the time you are set free, the girl will be dead and the crest will be mine," David Vircley cackled. With that, he turned and walked off, still laughing. Tintin, I could sense, was taking this far from well. After Vircley left, he began to try and pull his chains from inside the wall, as if it would do any good. I went into his head to see what he was thinking, but was blocked by an angry gray cloud. _Odd_, I thought, _normally I can see into his head_. I remembered one of my earlier lessons with Kioni, before we headed off to Blackpool.

_"Sometimes, if the person you are seeking thoughts for is in great agony, their thoughts will be blocked by what seems like a gray cloud that has formed inside of their head. There's nothing to do when the person is in this stage but reassure them. Tell them it'll be all right." _

"Tintin," I murmured, "It'll be all right." He didn't look at me.

"They're going to kill her," he snarled. I had never seen him like this before—it was almost scary to see him so livid. He pulled at his chains harder, screaming her name. "Nollie!" He shouted, "Nollie!" He pulled at his chains harder and harder, until I was sure he would dislocate his arms.

"_Stop_!" Kioni snapped, "You're hurting yourself."

"They're going to hurt _her_," he growled, "I have to get out of here."

"Its no use," my teacher shook her head, "We're trapped in here." Amaru had been oddly quiet, taking our capture well, I supposed.

"No, we're not," he finally said. Tintin's panicked expression faded a little.

"We're not?" He asked, a flicker of hope in his voice.

"There's a spell… It can break chains." I felt slightly jealous that Amaru knew this. He was only two and a half years older than me, so why did he know more than Kioni?

"What is it?" Tintin sounded like an excited child. I almost expected to look at him and see him bouncing up and down, a ball in his hand.

"Chainaway," he murmured, and was released of his bindings. We all stared at him in awe as the chains melted from his wrists and he was free. He went to Tintin, putting his hands on the shackles around the boy's wrists before saying the spell. Kioni and I said it together, chainaway, and were freed.

"He should've known better than to put three sorcerers in shackles," I murmured, rubbing my sore wrists.

"What are you still doing here?" Kioni asked Tintin, "You _have_ to go save Nollie. We'll be right behind you." His eyes flashed and he got up, racing out of the dungeon.

"I bid him luck," I said softly, "Lots of it."

"Gimmie the crest and I won't hurt you," said the person behind me. I shrieked, grabbing the box in my arms, and turned to face him. It was the man who had killed my parents.

"Liar!" I screamed, backing away from him. I was still on the ground. "I would give you the crest and you would shoot me. I know how this goes. It went the same for my mother."

"So you are Nollie. My regards on the death of your parents and everyone in your family. My, what a terrible life you have."

"And it's all because of you," I spat. "You think I'm going to give you this crest? After all you've done to my family? After all the people you've killed over it? I don't think so." I got to my feet and he pulled out his gun. He pulled the hammer, put it up in the air, and fired.

Nothing happened.

"_Dammit_," he cursed, realizing the gun wasn't loaded. He went to put bullets into it and I fled. I ran for the dinghy, only to find it demolished. I began to panic as I heard someone behind me, and ran for somewhere else to hide.

A shack about as big as Aunt Martha's parlor. Perfect. I didn't understand what it was doing on an island—especially since it was empty—but now wasn't the time to ponder shacks. I raced inside and hid in the shadows. I heard someone approach the shack and I was filled with dread. _He had found me and I was cornered_.

"Come out now, Miss Roberts, you've nowhere else to run or hide," the man yelled. I stood in the back of the shack, trembling. I wasn't facing him. I didn't want to. "Any last words? Oh—I have a few. You know, killing you will mean my life will get a whole lot better. I'll have the crest all to myself. Won't have to share it with anyone at all, just me and thousands of piles of money." He paused. "Your turn." I looked at the high ceiling of the shack and tried not to cry. I thought of Tintin and touched the ring on my necklace. I had failed him, though I wasn't surprised. I always seemed to do something wrong when I was on a mission for him. How could he have loved me? I was so pathetic compared to him. _He's better off without me, _I told myself, _I was holding him back from the world and now he can be free_. "I'm waiting," said the man, "Are you going to say anything or should I just kill you now?" I turned to face him, looked him straight in the eye, and said,

"Yes, I do. You want to know what my last words are? _I hate you_. I hate you for what you did to my parents and even Aunt Martha, you _bastard_. You're going to Hell when you die, I can promise you that." He was glaring at me, probably a combination of fury and shock bubbling inside of him. He cocked the gun and pointed it at me. I closed my eyes, waiting to die. I thought of Tintin and my parents and Snowy and Emilie and Rawnie and Kioni and Niara. I put my hand on my necklace and smiled. I was going to face death with a smile. A gunshot rang out just then, and I caught my breath. I wasn't dead. _Why wasn't I dead? _I opened my eyes, expecting to see Mother and Father there to welcome me into the Great Beyond, but I only saw Tintin in the door to the shack, his gun in hand. The man who had murdered my parents and Aunt Martha was laying facedown on the ground, the life bleeding out of him.

I let out a cry and ran to him and he caught me, wrapping his arms around me tightly. I was shaking and crying so hard into his shoulder I could hardly hear him talking to me, whispering, "It's okay, it's okay."

"I thought I'd never see you again," I cried, looking at him, "I was so scared…"

"I'm sorry, Nollie… I never should've let you go off alone. Believe it or not, I was scared too—so scared." He tucked a strand of my hair behind my ear. He leaned in to kiss me, but just then I heard Kioni.

"Rawnie, you leave them be!" She snapped at her tyro. The three sorcerers came into view and Tintin and I broke from our embrace. I blushed and looked away shyly. "Sorry about that, you two—it's funny, because she so wanted you two to be together, and whenever she realizes you're—well, you know—she interrupts."

"It's fine, Kioni," said Tintin.

I got the crest and we left. On the way back to the dock (Amaru was keeping the sirens far from us) Tintin explained the entire thing on who the man was to me.

After we got back into the town, we got our train tickets and prepared to leave—well, there wasn't much to prepare, since everything burned in the fire.

"Two tickets to Canterbury, England, please," Tintin requested at the ticket stand.

"How many bags, son?" Asked the man in the booth.

"None, sir."

"None? Couple of hobos trying for a new life?"

"No, sir, we have a home. It's just… All of our things were burned in a fire."

"Oh—the accident fire at that hotel not far from here? Sorry about your luck, kids." Tintin shrugged.

"At least now we can go home," he said, taking the tickets.

"Darn right you can—eh, aren't you that one kid—Tintin?"

"Yeah, that's me."

"Pleasure to meet you, Mr. Tintin."

After we left the ticket stand, Tintin and I went back over to Rawnie, Kioni and Amaru.

"It's funny, it feels like we just got here and already we have to go our separate ways again," I told them.

"Well, you know, Christmas is in two days, maybe we'll visit you—even though we don't celebrate it," said Rawnie.

"_Or_, you could come back with us, since Christmas is in two days," suggested Tintin, and I looked at him, grinning.

"Really?" I asked him, overcome with excitement.

"Well, yeah, I'm sure Emilie wouldn't mind too much," he smiled, "After all, it _is_ Christmas." I hugged him and kissed him out of excitement.

"This'll be the best Christmas ever," I told him.

And it was. It was my first Christmas that I wasn't living with Martha—and I actually got more than just a sock with a piece of stale candy in it for presents. Everything was perfect.

**Please Review, so I can post Mr. Epilogue! :)**


	7. Epilogue

**Oh my gosh... SO happy I'm posting this :) I was so giddy with excitement when I saw I got another review so I could post this! I LOVE THIS PART SO MUCH. It's quite unexplainable. If you find yourself getting confused, please go to Tintin and the Prophecy Stone and read the part where Rawnie and Nollie are having their girl conversation and Nollie's talking about the time she first met Tintin. It makes a lot more sense. **

**Oh, and guys... YAY! This is the end of book 2! This means that a very important new character can come to play in number three! I think you'll all like her :)**

Epilogue

~One Year Later~

"Come on, Nollie, hurry up!" Tintin called from downstairs. He had ordered me to put on my casual blue dress and put my hair in braids. I couldn't figure out why, and he wouldn't tell me, so I just did what I was told.

"I'm coming, I'm coming!" I shouted, hurrying downstairs, trying to tie one of my braids off with a blue ribbon as I did so. "So where are we going?" I asked him.

"For a walk," he said hesitantly.

"And you wanted me to dress like _this_ for a walk?"

"Uh—yeah. It's cute." Okay, something was up. This wasn't Tintin. If we ever went anywhere, it was to the park. Not _just_ on a walk. He led me to an alleyway that seemed somewhat familiar.

"What are we doing here?" I asked as he planted me in front of a building.

"You'll see. I want you to go to the front of that shop over there and start walking this way." He pointed at a little bookshop and I went over to it. I started walking and he jogged back behind me. I stopped and turned to look at him, confused. "Keep walking!" He shouted, and I rolled my eyes and did as I was told. I was getting closer to the alleyway when suddenly someone ran right next to me, grabbed me, and pulled me into the alley. I screamed before realizing it was Tintin. He ducked the both of us behind a big old crate and looked at me. He looked almost surprised I was there.

"Who are you?" He asked, and I looked at him curiously.

"I'm Nollie—"

"Hi, Nollie. I'm Tintin." _Oh. I get it now. He was recreating the day we met. But—why? _

"Tintin—the writer?" I played along.

"Yeah, that's me. Hey, Nollie, could I ask you something?" We were standing up straight now, like the 'threat' had gone.

"Sure, what is it?" He reached into his coat pocket and pulled something out before getting down on one knee and opening the little box.

"Will you marry me?" I put my hand to my mouth in—well, shock and joy and happiness. I didn't know what to say, I was so surprised.

"I—I'm not sure," I murmured, and his face fell. He got up slowly, almost embarrassed.

"You—you're not sure?" He tried not to sound hurt.

"I want to," I said slowly, "I really, really do. But I'm so afraid—so afraid of losing you and limping through the rest of my life in such terrible pain I'd die young… Scared someone better will come along and you'll love her more than me, scared that I won't get to see you because I'll be home all day and you'll be in France for work… I'm just so scared of being abandoned again…" He came close to me and wrapped his arms around me.

"I promise you," he said so gently and quietly I wasn't even sure he was speaking, "I will never let anything happen to me or you, and I will never, ever leave you for someone better because you are my someone better. Because I love you so much that being in a different room than you makes me want to rip my heart in half. And if you're staying home, I'm not going to France. I'll stay with you." He took my hands in his and put them to his lips.

"Yes," I said softly. When he raised his eyebrow, I murmured, "I'll marry you." He took his hands from mine and kissed my forehead as he slipped the ring around my finger. Sure, he had just proposed to me in an alleyway—but it was the alleyway we had met in, so it wasn't really an alleyway, it was a sacred place for us almost. And besides, we were going to be together forever. Forever. Forever. Forevermore.

**Sorry it kind of ended funny... The whole forever x4 was weird, but I didn't know how else to have her say it. I actually wrote the part where Nollie rejects him on my phone at my cousin's house, as nerdy and weird as that sounds.**

**Pardon me while I flip out... I FINISHED BOOK 2! :D NOW BOOK 3 CAN COME!**

**Here's the URL to book 3... Please read it! And review it! :) s/8549954/1/Tintin-and-the-Kidnapped-Child**


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